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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170279">Every Time a Door Closes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twinkeyy/pseuds/Twinkeyy'>Twinkeyy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Apocalypse, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Keith (Voltron), Awkwardness, Bisexual Disaster Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Character Death, Don't worry guys I'm not mean ok, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Gay, Gay Disaster Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gore, I Don't Even Know, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I am trying to make this enjoyable and not heart-wrenching, I spent so long on this oh geez, I tagged character death because of a "death scene", I will not make Lance dumb like a ton of other fics do, I won't play you like that babes don't even, It has angst in the beginning but it will eventually get fluffy!, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith and Lance are in love, Keith is a gay mess tbh, Keith is traumatized, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Has Anxiety, Lance (Voltron) Has Issues, Lance is Good at Feelings, Literally they are so gay, M/M, Mild gore tho dont worry, Mutual Pining, Not Really Character Death, Or I will try my best -3-, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Post-Apocalypse, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Soft Keith/Lance (Voltron), They are both not okay, They find each other by chance, Trauma, Zombie Apocalypse, kind of, lance is actually smart, my heart, not really but kind of, possible smut in the future</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:28:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,127</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26170279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twinkeyy/pseuds/Twinkeyy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith never expected the apocalypse to feel like the beginning of his life. Not once, but after a tragic loss, it felt like everything was over. The life he'd started had ended after only a couple of months. </p><p>At what seemed to be the end of his road, he'd been pulled from the depths. He was saved by a compassionate boy with the deepest blue eyes. Eyes that stared right into his soul, eyes he could look through and see the life in. Keith begins to realize that even though a door had been slammed in his face, a kind set of hands had opened a window right next to him. </p><p>The end wasn't as final as he'd originally thought.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith &amp; Lance (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Every Time a Door Closes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey! I'm Aidan! I'm the author B)<br/>So, this is going to be a pretty long fic, so buckle up folks! My Twitter is @ Artsyy_Klance! So, if you have questions about the fic or anything like that, feel free to dm me there! I'll probably make a Tumblr to post some sneak peaks of the fic on soon too, so watch out for that!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Two months. It had been two months since the world ended, two months since the experimental virus-47 pandemic grew out of control, causing more and more deaths. Two months since Patient Zero rose from his grave and ate the entire mortuary staff. He was the first “walker” to arise. He was slow, hence the name given to him. A little less than two months since the mortuary staff rose as well. They weren’t all the same as Patient Zero, some were fast, and some were stronger than even the greatest athletes. The fast ones were called runners, and the others were brutes. Rumors say that Patient Zero worked with a top secret government facility, and they’re who started this virus. Whether those rumors were true or not, the public had no idea. Most of the runners ended up getting out of the government’s grasp, and biting other people. This spread the virus, among other things, like scratches, and getting walker goo in your mouth or open wounds. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>________________________</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Keith wasn’t sure how Shiro had kept track of the days, even through the apocalypse. He’d always seemed to know what day it was, which amazed Keith, who hadn’t known what day it was since the end pf middle school, which ended almost 3 years ago. Keith missed back then, even if he was called “emo” or “loser” almost every day, it still happened to be better than having to fight for his life all the time.</p>
<p>At least Keith had Shiro wandering around with him. They’d been looking for adequate shelter for about an hour now, since it was getting dark. Everyone who’s not a walker yet knows traveling at night is dangerous, especially if you carry a torch or lantern. The walkers can see bright light, and they’re drawn to it like moths. Same goes for sounds, a single scream will attract clusters of them from at least a mile away. That’s why Shiro insisted that they stay away from guns. Keith thought they’d be useful, but he figured it was better that he got to put his past swordplay and martial arts experience to good use.</p>
<p>“Keith, this place looks fine. The door's unlocked. Maybe we could make camp here,” said Shiro, glancing over at Keith and cocking his head to the side, “what do you think?”</p>
<p>Keith looked at the house Shiro had been standing near. It was a two story house that looked pretty unkempt, however, it wasn’t too used or beaten up. It seemed safe enough to stay in for a while. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for at least a few weeks, open the door and check inside?”</p>
<p>Shiro nodded, opening the door quietly and peeking inside. He must not have seen anything suspicious, because he walked inside, whispering a quiet “stay there” to Keith.</p>
<p>Keith nodded and crossed his arms, looking out for walkers. He sighed. Shiro always insisted on making him wait outside. He waited for a good couple of minutes. Shiro hadn’t come back yet, which was starting to concern Keith.</p>
<p>Suddenly an extremely loud bang rang out through the streets. The sound had come from the house, and was closely followed by a cry of pain that resembled the voice belonging to his brother — Shiro. Keith jumped at the sound. Before he could think about it, he bolted into the house, only to be greeted by the horrific image of his older brother lying in a pool of his own blood. The scene flooded his mind, making him fail to notice the two figures before him, one of which holding the offending gun.</p>
<p>Keith’s heart raced, dread overwhelming him as he looked up to see the face of this — this <i>killer.</i> Keith’s mind was racing. His blood boiled. He picked Shiro up and leaned the man against his own shoulders. He turned around to leave the area, but the zombies were gathering quickly, approaching from almost every direction. There was a small opening between the cluster, but it would definitely close too quickly for him to get through with Shiro weighing him down. He wouldn’t be able to fight them off either, Shiro took both hands to carry and Keith needed at least one to wield a sword.</p>
<p>“Keith.. Leave me,” Shiro mumbled quietly to his younger brother.</p>
<p>“No fucking way, you’re insane if you think I’m doing that,” Keith countered, glaring at Shiro. He refused to leave Shiro behind, he couldn’t. </p>
<p> “You have to- you- you know we’ll both die if you d-don’t.” Shiro sounded so sure of himself, because he was right. Shiro was too weak to run on his own, plus Keith would be significantly slower <i>and</i> unable to fight if he took Shiro.</p>
<p>“Stop it, Shiro, I can’t do that.” It was Keith’s turn to sound sure of himself.</p>
<p>“Keith. S-Save you- save yourself. Leave! Please,” Shiro practically begged.</p>
<p>“No- I-”</p>
<p>Shiro pushed himself off of Keith, the force moving the boy towards the small gap between the walkers to escape, falling to his knees as he did so. “Go! Hur-ry!” Shiro insisted, weakly pushing at Keith’s foot.</p>
<p>“Shiro- I- I won’t- I can’t just leave you. You’re my brother, I love you! Please!” Keith cried out, trying to pull Shiro up.</p>
<p>Shiro resisted the pull. “K-Keith, go. L-Live.”</p>
<p>Keith's heart shattered. “I- I’m sorry, Shiro.”</p>
<p>“Goodbye, Keith..”</p>
<p>Hesitantly, Keith ran for it. He kept looking back at Shiro as the cluster of zombies started to close in on him. He pulled out his sword and fought them off. He glanced back towards where Shiro was one final time, but he couldn’t see anything over the walkers following him. Keith barely registered the sound of a door slamming and a voice calling out after he’d looked back. He turned back around, cutting off any of the walker’s heads if they got in his way as hot tears stained his cheeks.</p>
<p>Keith had just lost his only family, he’d left his brother to die. He didn’t have time to wallow in self pity, even if he wanted to. He had to abide by Shiro’s dying wish, he had to survive. More than anything, he refused to let Shiro die in vain, promising himself that he'd never let Shiro down again. Keith would rather spend all of his effort on surviving than disappoint Shiro. </p>
<p>Each walker Keith killed was a painful reminder that he couldn’t turn back. As this kept on, he’d come to regret his decision more and more with each one he slaughtered. His heart was aching to go back to his brother, to die with him, but he knew he couldn’t. He had to make Shiro proud. He had to fight with every inch of his being, no matter how much he wanted to just give up already, no matter how hard it was to exist for even a few more minutes. When he eventually broke free of the crowding of the walkers in front of him, he ran as fast as he could. He needed to get away.</p>
<p>Keith’s feet hit the pavement with a harsh thud for every step and each one felt like it would be his last. He wasn’t thinking too hard about the walkers and runners following behind him, he just wanted to get away. He’d never wished so hard for the world to go back to normal, for this to all be a dream. Keith wanted to wake up already! He wanted to wake up to his mom shaking him gently and telling him everything was going to be fine, that it was just a dream. Although no matter how hard he seemed to blink, he was still here, still stuck in this nightmare that hadn’t ever seemed to end.</p>
<p>Keith continued running, his mind on autopilot as he barely registered taking turns up and down the streets. ‘This is it,’ he thought, ‘this is how I’m going to die.’ He let out a choked up sob, more tears welling up in his eyes. He’d lived a sad and pathetic life that was going to come to a sad and pathetic end. Keith coughed a couple of times and attempted to wipe away his tears to see better. Once he’d done this, he took another turn into a wide-looking alleyway.</p>
<p>He stopped in his tracks when he’d noticed the wall before him, blocking his attempts to escape from the walkers, who were now closing in on him. “Fuck-” he sobbed, backing away from the horde. This was his end, this was how he was going to die. Alone, and unnoticed. Keith took a few shaky breaths and held up his sword, digging deep for the last bit of his will to live as he did. It was hopeless, but Keith refused to go down quietly, he refused to let himself die without a fight.</p>
<p>“Hey, Mullet!” a voice called from Keith’s left. “Over here!”</p>
<p>Keith turned to look towards the voice. There was a man with deep blue eyes and pretty tanned skin leaning out of a window in the building directly next to him, seemingly waving him over. Keith would never admit this, but he definitely started crying harder out of relief as he saw this hero of a man urging him to come to the window. </p>
<p>Keith immediately sheathed his sword and ran to the man at the window, in fact, he sprinted with all of his might. He quickly started to crawl into the window, with the help of this kind stranger. While Keith was climbing through, he yelped as he felt a hand grab his foot and try to yank him down, but he was held steady.</p>
<p>“Cover your ears, Mullet, this is going to be loud,” the brunette man said as he pulled out a pistol and shot the walkers grabbing at Keith’s feet, after making sure Keith had obeyed and covered his ears of course.</p>
<p>Keith flinched at the loud bangs. He ended up jumping and clinging to the other man as he pulled himself fully through the window. He hated that sound more than anything, that was the sound of Shiro dying. Something he had to witness. Keith covered his ears once more and cried harder than he was able to while running. He leaned into the stranger that had saved him, shoving his face into the other man’s shoulder. After the quiet sound of a closing window, Keith felt two arms gently wrap themselves around him, protecting him. He slowly pulled his hands from his ears and instead grabbed onto this person’s shirt. Keith was trying to calm himself down, but somehow he got the feeling that the taller man would let him cry like this for as long as he needed. That thought comforted him. </p>
<p>Keith didn’t even know this guy’s name, yet his mere presence made Keith feel so much better. This guy didn’t ask what happened, he didn’t pry, he just offered comfort and support immediately. Keith appreciated that so much, he really didn’t want to talk about it right now. Keith cried into this guy’s shoulder for a while, almost choking on air he could barely breathe in. With each sob, his chest seemed to hurt more and more.</p>
<p>“Hey, hey, breathe,” the man hummed quietly, tracing soft circles on Keith’s back as he spoke, “deep breaths, okay? Don’t hurt yourself please.” </p>
<p>Keith nodded into the brunette’s shoulder, trying to take deep, slower breaths, but only coughing and sobbing more. </p>
<p>The brunette nodded. “That’s it, slow down. Try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.”</p>
<p>Keith did as he was told, trying not to let his cries get in the way of his breathing. He had eventually calmed his breathing, only letting out quiet sobs and whimpers into the other man’s shoulder. At this point, Keith was feeling a lot safer than he was just after he’d entered the building. He hadn’t looked into it very much, but he could easily tell that it’s a hotel. Or, more accurately it was a hotel. Now it’s just another abandoned building, like most. </p>
<p>Keith’s grip eventually loosened on the taller man’s shirt, and he reached to wipe his face dry with one of his hands. He sighed, still shaking a little from his earlier panicked state. He sobbed again, a few more tears spilling out against his will. “Fuck,” he whined, wiping his face dry once more. He pulled himself away from the taller man’s grasp and continued to aggressively wipe away whatever tears spilled after that. He didn’t want to just stand around and cry like a baby while the outside was complete chaos.</p>
<p>“Are you alright? You’re not injured, are you?” The man asked, not fighting it when Keith pulled away. He was looking at Keith with concern and sympathy, this was a look that people rarely gave Keith in these past few years. Keith wasn’t sure how to feel about it. </p>
<p>Keith took a quick glance over his body. “I- I don’t- I don’t think so..” he mumbled, sniffling quietly.</p>
<p>The man seemed pleased by that, smiling brightly and nodding. “That’s good, I’m glad you’re not hurt. Do you think you can walk okay? You’re shaking, and we’ve got to get upstairs before a window breaks and they get inside.” He gestured to the walkers piled up against the window.</p>
<p>Keith frowned a little. “I can walk fine..” he wiped his face again. These tears really needed to stop or Keith was going to lose it. This day really didn’t want to be convenient for Keith, did it? He sighed.</p>
<p>The tall man nodded. “Well follow me then,” he said, gesturing for Keith to follow as he walked towards the stairs. </p>
<p>Keith nodded, following quietly and looking down. He wished today was over. It was already almost dark at this point, he wasn’t sure of the exact time though. Shiro, the human clock, wasn’t here to tell him. Keith sobbed again at the passing thought of his older brother, who was definitely dead by now. He sniffled and tried his best to hold back his cries. </p>
<p>The man sighed quietly. “So, what’s your name?” He asked, trying to rid the air between them of awkwardness and Keith’s thoughts of darkness at the same time.</p>
<p>Keith made a quiet ‘hm?’ noise, he wasn’t paying attention to what the man in front of him had said. </p>
<p>The man looked back at Keith. “I’m Lance McClain. What’s your name?” He asked again, raising a thin eyebrow in intrigue.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Keith mumbled, “I’m Keith… Kogane.” He looked up at Lance, wiping his face, but immediately after he regretted meeting this boy’s gaze. He looked down at the stairs beneath him as they ascended, rather than at Lance. Keith felt so awkward whenever he did it, so he decided that he wouldn’t do that anymore. It was kind of embarrassing. </p>
<p>Lance had such a vibrant aura, it was hard to describe. It made Keith feel safe, yet intimidated at the same time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Keith sighed.</p>
<p>“Nice to meet you, Keith,” Lance said, smiling at the other boy. At this point he wasn’t even looking ahead of him as he walked, what a hazard. </p>
<p>Keith glanced up at Lance’s face briefly, looking away after half of a second. “Yeah.. uh, thanks for saving me back there. Sorry for um..”</p>
<p>“No need to apologise for anything, Mullet,” Lance interrupted, laughing it off, seemingly without a care in the world. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” </p>
<p>Keith sighed, but nodded a little. “Alright.. I guess,” he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. </p>
<p>They continued the rest of their trek up the stairs in silence. They had a bit of a long way to walk, since they’d be much safer on one of the upper floors. Walkers can’t really climb, plus, if they got into the bottom floor, the walkers would have to travel a long way to get upstairs to them. </p>
<p>They stopped at around the tenth floor, which is a long walk up stairs. Keith’s legs were aching a bit by the time they got to the room that Lance had seemingly been staying in for a while. Keith sighed, he was exhausted from the events of tonight. Everything was so stressful and demanding that he didn’t even realize his tiredness until they’d made it through the fourth or fifth floor. At least he’d managed to stop crying around the third floor. That fact relieved him.</p>
<p>Lance opened the door with a quick click and gestured for Keith to enter first. Keith did so, too tired to object or say anything. Almost as soon as he entered the room, he sat down on one of the two queen sized beds available to him. It was a nicely decorated place, it looked like a somewhat expensive hotel room. There was a bathroom to the left of the entrance, and two beds against the left wall, both beds were facing a TV that was mounted on the wall above a desk. On the farthest wall across from the door, there was a small kitchen area. It was nothing much, really, just a fridge, a microwave, and a sink, accompanied by a small round table with two chairs positioned around it.</p>
<p>Keith groaned as he sat down, he’s needed to do this ever since he first got inside the window. He laid back onto the bed and closed his eyes. The entirety of tonight was just plain painful. As Keith laid there, his mind wandered and ended up making him want to cry again. He sighed heavily and put his hands over his face. </p>
<p>After entering, Lance walked over to the mini kitchen and microwaved something. Keith wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t look over to find out. He was too tired to wonder all that much or even care. He was hungry, admittedly, but he wasn’t going to go take food or ask for  some. He wasn’t exactly comfortable doing that, since he didn’t exactly live there. This was Lance’s place, Lance’s stuff. It didn’t feel right to just take food from a stranger. Keith rolled over in the bed, kicking off his shoes and crawling further on to shove his face into one of the pillows neatly placed on top of the bed. He pushed his arms under his pillow and hugged it as he felt his body slowly relax into the mattress.</p>
<p>After a couple of minutes, the microwave beeped and the aroma of ramen filled the room. Keith’s head perked up a little to look over towards the smell. His stomach growled. He sighed and laid his head on the pillow once more, but this time his head was facing the kitchen area. Keith watched as Lance pulled out one ramen cup, and put another into the microwave. Lance grabbed the first cup, and a fork, then made his way over to where Keith was laying. Keith looked up at him and furrowed his eyebrows.</p>
<p>“Hey, I know you probably want nothing more than to sleep right now, but you’ve gotta eat,” Lance said, holding the ramen out to Keith.</p>
<p>Keith raised a brow, but hesitantly sat up and took the cup from Lance. “Uh, thank you,” he mumbled, hesitating for a second before he eagerly started to eat.</p>
<p>Lance chuckled a bit. “No problem,” he said, smiling at Keith.</p>
<p>There was a few seconds of quiet between them, until the microwave beeped again. Lance’s head perked up and he walked back to the kitchen area to go get his own ramen. It was all he really had, that and a bunch of water, chips, and other snacks he took from the neighboring rooms. It’s not like anyone was using them anyways. </p>
<p>Keith finished his ramen in only a couple of minutes, he was so much hungrier than he originally thought he was. He had drank the soup part, leaving the cup completely empty and sighing quietly. He was still hungry.</p>
<p>“Hey, Mullet,” Lance said. Keith glanced over at him and cocked his head, refusing the urge to tell Lance that’s not his name. “Do you prefer barbeque, or regular?” Lance held up two bags of chips, one was barbeque flavoured, the other, of course, was just regular salted. </p>
<p>Keith raised a brow. “Uh.. whichever,” he said.</p>
<p>Lance nodded and tossed him the barbeque flavored chips, along with a bottle of water. Keith caught them both and mumbled another ‘thanks’ before opening the bag of chips and eating some more. He was really glad that Lance was so kind and willing to share his food and space. It meant a lot to Keith. He felt he owed this Lance guy his life. He didn’t know how he’d ever be able to repay him.</p>
<p>Lance sat on his own bed, opening his bag of chips and digging in. He looked at Keith then turned to his whole body to face him, settling in a criss-cross-apple-sauce position. Lance looked quizzically at Keith, clearly trying to figure him out. Keith raised a brow and glanced at the boy across from him, tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear.</p>
<p>“Uh, did I grow horns or something? What’s that look for?” Keith asked, glancing away before returning Lance’s look of question.</p>
<p>Lance raised a brow. “Oh yeah, definitely. I’ve never seen such horns. They’re insane, you should look at them yourself,” he hummed, smirking a little.</p>
<p>Keith rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he shook his head and looked away from Lance. He sat quietly for a few minutes, contemplating something. “Hey, Lance?” Keith asked, worrying a bit as he played with his fingers.</p>
<p>“W’sup, Mullet?” Lance turned to look at Keith, cocking his head slightly.</p>
<p>“Can we maybe sleep in shifts tonight? I don’t really feel like it’s a good idea to not..” He trailed off, looking to his lap and biting his lip.</p>
<p>“Huh? Oh, sure! Totally, that’s a really good idea, Keith!” Lance hummed joyfully, eating a couple more chips.</p>
<p>Keith seemed a bit relieved that Lance had agreed to his idea. He felt a lot safer with Lance promising to watch the room while he slept. “Thank you,” he mumbled. “Two hour shifts?” He suggested wearily, glancing nervously at Lance.</p>
<p>Lance shook his head. “Ne need to thank me. Also, four hour shifts are better, and you can sleep first. You look like you need the rest.”</p>
<p>Keith frowned a little. “I guess, but I’m not that tired, really.”</p>
<p>“Just take the first rest, please.” Lance smiled reassuringly. </p>
<p>Keith sighed, but ended up nodding anyways. He had been tired ever since the stairs on the fifth floor. Just plain exhausted. He leaned back against the headboard of the bed, and turned to face the TV while doing so. Keith continued eating his chips and sipping away at his water, not wanting to waste any resources before he would inevitably fall asleep. </p>
<p>Once the bag of chips was finished, and the water was about half empty, Keith took off his jacket, and made himself comfortable under the sheets in his bed. He leaned over to turn the lamp next to him off. He didn’t even remember if Lance had turned them on when they got there or not, he must not have been paying attention. Keith sighed and rolled over in his bed, facing away from Lance. “G’night,” he mumbled, immediately feeling drowsy as he snuggled into the warm sheets.</p>
<p>The last thing he’d heard before dozing off was a “Goodnight, Mullet,” from Lance, who was on the bed next to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>________________________</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Lance glanced over at Keith, who seemed to have fallen asleep immediately when he’d hit the pillow. He was right, Keith was tired. Like, of course he was, he’s probably just gone through a whole lot. Lance wasn’t sure exactly what, but he didn’t want to pry. It’s not his business, and he doesn’t even know this guy. Although, this fact didn’t cease his curiosity. </p>
<p>Back when he first saw Keith from outside of the window, he was looking through the luggage that was abandoned here and left for the walkers, or really anyone who wanted to take it. He was looking for shampoo. He’d run out recently and he knew it’s just barbaric to clean your hair with body wash, even though he thought he’d have to do that at some point if he wanted to stay clean.</p>
<p>Lance let out a sigh after having not found anything for a good twenty minutes. He wanted to keep looking, but he’d looked through most of these bags already and scavenging at abandoned stores was damn near impossible at best. Other people with many more guns and a lot more brute strength than Lance had were also a threat, not just the walkers. </p>
<p>Outside somewhere there was the sound of many many people running. Lance had originally been confused out of his mind, until he looked out the nearest window. That was where he’d seen a man meekly holding up a sword towards an entire horde of at least a thousand walkers. Panic ran through Lance as he quickly struggled to open the window and yell to the raven haired mullet head to get inside. </p>
<p>“Hey, Mullet! Over here!” He frantically gestured at the man to come over as he leaned out of the window so he’d be able to help him up and inside. </p>
<p>His calling the guy ‘Mullet’ in their first meeting wasn’t the most socially graceful thing Lance has ever done, but he was kind of in a hurry to help this guy not die, so it didn’t really matter all that much. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as the boy heard Lance’s call, he looked over and sobbed, quickly sheathing his sword as he ran over towards the window. Lance leaned further out of the window to help this stranger in. He’d been holding him up and pulling him in, until a hand grabbed at the boy’s foot. Lance jumped a tiny bit when the boy practically screamed and grabbed onto him, even though Lance was holding him still just fine.</p>
<p>Lance pulled out his pistol. These fuckers were going to let go. “Cover your ears, Mullet, this is going to be loud,” he warned, waiting until the boy obeyed to shoot. After Lance shot the walkers, the poor boy seemed to be trembling in his arms as he was pulled fully inside of the building.</p>
<p>Lance shook himself out of his memories. He didn’t want to think about the pain it brought him to feel Keith trembling and listen to him cry. He didn’t like it when anyone cried, especially out of fear or anxiety. It reminded him of his siblings, who were still in Cuba. Lance hoped they were okay. He hoped they wouldn’t have to cry like Keith did, that they wouldn’t have to cry like Lance had. He just wanted to protect them. </p>
<p>He sighed and fiddled with his hands, half keeping watch for the night as he did. The ‘staying awake to look out for zombies’ job wasn’t exactly the most exciting, but it was somewhat necessary. Well, entirely necessary. One of them could die in their sleep without someone keeping watch. Lance’s job here was the task he should be focused on, so he stopped letting his mind wander to the sad places it was heading.</p>
<p>Lance’s watch went on without any bumps in the road. He even watched for an hour longer than he should have so Keith could sleep more. Keith seemed to be sleeping peacefully, which was good, especially since he’d definitely had a traumatic day.</p>
<p>Once Lance's shift was over, he woke Keith up for his. He shook the other boy gently/ “Keith, Keith, wake up. You’ve gotta watch now,” he said.</p>
<p>Keith’s eyes cracked open and he let out a groan. “Ugghhh, nooo,” he mumbled, rolling away from Lance and pulling a pillow over his head. </p>
<p>Lance snickered. “Yeeeessss,” he said, mimicking Keith’s tone and pulling the pillow off of his face. “You gotta get up so we don’t die while I sleep. Come on, please?”</p>
<p>Keith made another begrudging noise, but this time he sat up and rubbed his eyes. “...My watch now?” He asked, glancing at Lance.</p>
<p>Lance smiled and nodded. “Your watch. The food in the kitchen is open to you whenever you want some, just don’t steal it and run away, okay Mullet?”</p>
<p>Keith grumbled out a thank you and looked around the room. His hair was messy, and his eyes were droopy. Keith yawned and pulled his legs out from under the covers and stood up. “Okay, I’m awake now. Go to sleep,” he mumbled.</p>
<p>Lance rolled his eyes. “Sure thing, captain.” Keith looked tired still, but he seemed to be awake enough to stay that way, so Lance laid down and tried to sleep.</p>
<p>He didn’t though. Even if Keith was there to protect him while he slept, he was way too anxious to sleep comfortably anymore. He’d become paranoid. A lot of times people would say ‘better paranoid than dead,’ but Lance wasn’t sure how true that was anymore. He couldn’t sleep because of it, so he was always tired, which didn’t help so much with the staying alive part. He had trouble doing so many things, just because of the intense fear that the idea of doing them brought him. Hunk had always been there to ease his anxiety when they were travelling together, but now, Hunk wasn’t here. </p>
<p>Lance wasn’t even sure how he saved Keith. Maybe the fear of what he would have had to witness and live with was worse than his fear of dying. He’s glad he’d done it regardless, but it’s still something worth contemplation.</p>
<p>He rolled over, leaving his back to Keith, maybe hoping he’d shake off his not-so-happy thoughts by moving a bit. Lance opened one of his eyes and reached over to grab one of the pillows on the other side of his bed, hugging it to his chest after he’d gotten it. He curled around the pillow slightly and took in a few calming breaths. Lance was determined to go to sleep, that was, until he heard a quiet sob from the bed to the right of his. </p>
<p>Lance made sure to keep himself from making much noise as he looked towards the source of the sob-like sound. It was Keith, of course, who else would it be? The other boy had his face in his hands, and his knees to his chest. Lance couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like Keith was crying.</p>
<p>He’d heard Keith sniffle and then saw him roughly wiping his eyes with his palms. Keith  was definitely crying. </p>
<p>There was a moment of panic, one in which Lance had no idea what to do. What had caused the passing of that moment was another choked out sob, this one louder than the one that initially caught Lance’s attention. Lance frowned a bit and sat up, taking off his blanket and turning to get out of bed.</p>
<p>Keith looked over towards Lance at the sound of movement. He looked alarmed, sobbing again and turning away from Lance, wiping his face once more and then covering it with his hands as he shook his head. </p>
<p>Lance’s frown deepened. He got up and sat next to Keith, placing a hesitant hand on the other boy’s shoulder. “Hey, hey, I’m here, it’s okay.” He smiled weakly.</p>
<p>Keith looked at Lance once more, this time, instead of turning away or pushing Lance off of him, he just sobbed again and leaned into him. A couple seconds later, Lance had gently wrapped his arms around Keith, murmuring soft words of comfort and encouragement. Keith did what he had done before and grabbed onto Lance’s shirt, seemingly an effort to ground himself.</p>
<p>Lance sighed quietly and pet Keith’s hair, humming lightly as Keith’s hands moved to hug Lance’s torso, grabbing desperately at the back of his shirt this time. Keith shoved his face into Lance’s chest, breathing out a sob. “Shi-Shiro,,” he cried into Lance’s chest, it was almost incomprehensible. </p>
<p>‘Shiro?’ Lance thought, a little confused as to if he’d heard the other boy correctly. Keith said the word again, though. Not a word, maybe a name? Lance hugged Keith a little tighter to his chest. Keith must have lost this ‘Shiro’ person, or thing. This made Lance want to protect Keith, not that he could do a good job of it, but he’d try his god damn best.</p>
<p>Keith cried for quite a while longer, if Lance was keeping track, it was maybe fifteen ish minutes. During that time, Lance had been trying his best to comfort Keith and make him feel better, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do to aid or mend the loss of a loved one. That’s not really something one can fix. No matter how badly one wanted to, people didn’t come back to life-well, not genuinely anyways. Walkers were just a grotesque mimicry of ‘life,’ it was quite depressing to think about, really. Maybe that’s what this ‘Shiro’ guy now was. </p>
<p>Lance shook off the thought, he didn’t want to let himself spiral into his own thoughts tonight. He wanted to focus on comforting Keith, that was the only thing he could really do anyways. If Keith wanted to tell him about Shiro, he’d let Keith tell him when he’s ready. It was none of his business in the first place, so it’s not something he should be worrying about, even if it plagued his mind a little bit. He sighed, blinking hard and clearing his mind.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>________________________</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Even when Keith had stopped crying, neither of them pulled away from the hug. Keith sniffled and moved one of his hands to wipe his face, refusing to let go with the other as he did. He didn’t want to pull away from his only comfort right now. It felt like Lance was the only thing keeping him from losing his mind right now. Keith let out a meek sob-like noise, similar to a whimper. He grabbed the front of Lance’s shirt with the hand that had just wiped his face. </p>
<p>“Hey, want me to stay up with you tonight?” He felt more than heard Lance say from above him. </p>
<p>Keith made a noise, whining a little and pushing his face into Lances chest harder. “But..” he mumbled, his voice muffled by the way his face was pressed against Lance.</p>
<p>Lance shook his head, his voice vibrating in his chest as he spoke. “No need to worry about me, I wouldn’t have slept much anyways in the first place. Let’s hang out a bit, I’ve got a few board games if you wanna play to pass the time. Or you could go back to sleeping if you’re still tired.”</p>
<p>Keith shook his head and whined, he just wanted to stay like this for a little longer. He wanted to stay in Lance’s warm embrace, it was comfortable, not to mention the fact that Lance smelled absolutely divine. Cinnamon apple? Vanilla? Something like that. Whatever it was, it was heavenly compared to him and most of the other things he’s smelled for a good chunk of the apocalypse. He took a few deep breaths in, wanting to savour this opportunity the best he could. Keith only hoped that Lance didn’t think he smelled bad.</p>
<p>	Eventually Keith’s breath started to even out as he calmed down, he was starting to relax fully into Lance. He felt himself growing sleepy once more, this time due to the warmth of Lance around him. It was way more comfortable than the bed he’d just slept in, which didn’t seem possible when he’d laid down initially. Keith grumbled quietly and practically nuzzled into Lance’s chest, already almost half asleep. He didn’t see Lance’s reaction, or even hear it really. He was so damn tired. </p>
<p>Keith had felt Lance’s chest vibrate against his face, barely being able to catch what the other boy had said. “Oh? Sleepy, are we?” Lance hummed quietly, smiling down at Keith, even though Keith wouldn’t have been able to see it. He was smiling to himself more than anything anyways.</p>
<p>	Keith groaned, nodding and pushing his hand over Lance’s mouth. He was trying to sleep, Lance needed to shut up, now. He felt Lance laugh a little, unable to stop himself, Keith smiled too. “Shhh,” he mumbled, shaking his head and taking a few deep breaths.</p>
<p>	This time, Lance followed directions and quieted himself, not wanting to disturb Keith’s sleep. Keith hummed in contentment and relaxed completely, eventually drifting off into sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyy! You made it to the end!! Thank you so much for reading, I really really hope you enjoyed, I poured so much effort into this and I crave attention and validation. I am so thankful that you made it all the way here. I'll probably be posting every 2-4 weeks because I am a school student, so it can get kind of stressful to post any more frequently than that! Sorry if the wait is longer than planned, and if it is too too long, like multiple months too long, Dm me (@ Artsyy_Klance)! Yell at me, PLEASE. I have pretty bad ADHD and trouble sticking with projects sometimes, so if you yell at me, I'll get back on it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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